Chinese EV maker BYD is assessing plans to build a manufacturing plant in Canada while also leaving open the possibility of acquiring an established global automaker.
In an interview with Bloomberg, executive vice president Stella Li said the company is examining the Canadian market for a potential production facility.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Although no final decision has been made, she added that if the project goes ahead, BYD would aim to own and operate the factory itself.
Canada, for its part, has been looking to attract investment from Chinese carmakers and has encouraged them to pursue joint ventures with Canadian businesses.
In January, the country agreed to exempt up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs a year from a 100% tariff introduced in 2024, a move that signalled a change from its earlier approach of keeping Chinese vehicles out of the market.
Li also said BYD could consider buying a legacy automaker, at a time when several manufacturers in the US, Europe and Japan are under strain from the cost of supporting both internal combustion and electric vehicle development.
She did not name any potential targets.
The company has put plans to enter the US market on hold.
Li said the US is a tough market, citing high tariffs and restrictions on connected-car technology that have largely prevented Chinese-built vehicles from gaining access.
Instead, BYD is prioritising international growth and is applying what Li described as its “Brazil model”, using the same sales and marketing approach that supported its expansion in South America.
The company is working on its first European passenger car production base in Hungary and is weighing a second facility in Turkey as part of its broader overseas push.
BYD’s sales in the first two months of the year declined 36% to 400,241 vehicles, though exports continued to rise.
The company is aiming for overseas sales of 1.3 million vehicles in 2026.
Li said two recent launches – a new generation of BYD’s blade batteries and an ultra-fast flash charging architecture – are expected to help counter the drop in sales.
